Setback To AAP As Ex-Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao Joins BJP Ahead Of Karnataka Polls

Bhaskar Rao Joins BJP: Former Bengaluru Police Commissioner, who had earlier resigned from the Indian Police Service, joined AAP in April last year and was recently appointed as the party's Manifesto Committee's Chairman.

Bengaluru: Former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, who is the also the Chairman of Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Manifesto Committee, joined the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka. The former IPS officer had met the state's Revenue Minister, R Ashoka earlier and held discussions.

Karnataka | Former commissioner of Bengaluru and AAP leader Bhaskar Rao joins BJP, in Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/o1TdIGfUve — ANI (@ANI) March 1, 2023

He is also said to have met Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, a former IPS officer and party's co-in-charge for Karnataka polls, and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, sources said, triggering speculations about him joining the saffron party soon.

Rao, who resigned from the Indian Police Service, had joined AAP in April last year, and was recently appointed as the party's Manifesto Committee's Chairman, and had emerged as one of the prominent faces of the party in the state.

Bhaskar Rao, who was even seen as AAP's probable candidate from the Basavanagudi Assembly constituency, is reportedly upset over his not-so-good equations with certain party leaders especially in the state unit and its recent organisational changes, sources added.